Sleep
by dialectical wiggins
Summary: Post Chosen one-shot. A conversation with Willow inspires Buffy to tell Faith something. Fluffy.


"Sleep"

_Summary: None to speak of. Just a short, fluffy piece of mush. The scenario just popped into my head in the middle of the night so I wrote it down._

_Setting: Sometime after season 7. Everyone lives together somewhere._

_Disclaimer: I own nothing!_

_Rating: T_

"Willow!" Buffy rushed into her best friend's room, shutting the door behind her.

Willow looked up from the book she was reading in surprise, noticing that Buffy looked kind of disheveled—her hair was all askew, her clothes were ruffled, and she wasn't wearing any makeup. "What's up, Buff?"

"Willow," Buffy said excitedly, sitting down on her friend's bed, "I've got some big news!"

"Yeah?" Willow asked, laying her book face down on the bed and giving her full attention to Buffy, who looked like she was about ready to burst with excitement.

A pause. Buffy took a deep breath. "Well?" Willow prodded.

"Faith and I slept together last night!" Buffy spurted out excitedly, her mouth twisting up into a wide grin.

Another pause. Willow waited a second before replying "...and?"

"What do you mean 'and,' Will? This is huge!" Buffy got up and paced. "It's huger than huge. I mean, this puts all the apocalypses we faced in Sunnydale to shame!" Buffy blabbed, a little frustrated Willow wasn't giving the reaction she'd hoped for.

"Buff, unless I developed some kind of mind reading thingy recently, you told me about how you and Faith started hooking up after patrols like two weeks ago," Willow said, a little worried that maybe she had developed some kind of power. She shook her head and mumbled to her self, "I mean, I can magic myself into other people's heads, but I don't think that I could just randomly get other people's thoughts. On the other hand, it wouldn't be entirely unprecedent-"

"Will, so not the point!" Buffy knew she needed to stop Willow's babble train before it could really get going. She sat back down beside Willow. "I know I told you we've been hooking up, but you don't get it, we SLEPT together last night. Like actually sleep. With the sheep jumping over fences and everything."

"So no sex?" Willow asked, still confused.

"Oh, we had sex and it was unbelievable as always. But after, when Faith is usually all 'that was great B, see ya around' and goes across the hall to her room, she didn't! She kissed me on the nose and held me all night. And I know she didn't just fall asleep before she could go to her room cos it took awhile for her breathing to slow down, but then she finally went to sleep and then I went to sleep and then we slept together!" Buffy took a deep breath.

"She kissed you on the nose?"

Buffy nodded. "She was so gentle and sweet...God I love her so much, Will!" Buffy burst out, falling back onto Willow's bed.

"She kissed you on the nose" Willow repeated, this time as a statement, as if to confirm it to herself.

"...And then her arms were around me, holding me against her... and I could feel her breath on my face, strands of her hair tickling my cheeks, her warm body all curled up into mine..." Buffy sighed daydreamily.

"She kissed you on the nose and you snuggled," Willow summarized slowly, trying to make sense of the words and how they related to the Faith she thought she knew.

Buffy sat up and turned toward Willow. "Are you alright Will? You seem a little...broken record-y."

"What? No..." Willow stopped, "all fine here."

Buffy giggled, "back in our dimension yet?"

Willow smiled and looked at Buffy. "Well, I'm in the one where you and Faith are in love, so I'm thinking not..." she joked.

Buffy suddenly looked away, a sad look flitting across her face.

"What?" Willow asked, putting her hand on Buffy's knee.

"We...I don't..." Buffy stopped, turning toward Willow, her eyes cloudy with unshed tears. "I love her, Will. I don't know know how she feels."

"Did you tell her?"

"No, I mean Faith's not exactly 'relationship girl' and I'm scared to push too hard. And I only realized I'm in love with her last night, even though I think my feelings have been there awhile. But I don't think I can live without her, Will... I...I can't be without her again. We wasted all those years fighting, but I think its always been her I wanted, you know? All this time..."

Willow mulled it over a moment and then nodded. "I think she's in love with you, too."

"You think?" Buffy looked over at Willow, who kept smiling.

Willow slowly reasoned it out, becoming more and more sure of it. "Yeah, I do. Faith has had a thing for you ever since you two met. I kinda even had that figured out back then. Think about it: everything she did, even the bad stuff, was because she couldn't deal with how she felt about you."

"Well, she always flirted with me and stuff, but that just means she wanted to sleep with me. And I know she likes to do _that."_

Willow shook her head. "No Buff, it wasn't just that. I mean it's Faith; she wouldn't have gotten all nuts if she just wanted to sleep with you. If all she wanted was sex, she could have had pretty much anyone. Hell, I'm pretty sure under different circumstances I woulda slept with her when we were in high school and I wasn't even gay yet." She blushed slightly before continuing, "No, Buff I think she went nuts cos she realized it went deeper than that— she realized she was actually in love with you. When she couldn't deal with her feelings, she just repressed them until they made her act out against you."

"Hey, that kinda sounds like a Maggie Walsh lecture!" Buffy said with a smirk.

Willow laughed, "Hey, just cos she turned out to be an evil bitch doesn't mean she didn't teach us a few things! Point is, Buff, Faith can deal with those feelings now that Sunnydale is dead and buried. It took her a little while since she didn't want to risk scaring you away either. But I really do think she's in love with you."

"Then why wouldn't she say something?"

"Buffy, let's face it—you and Faith pretty much have the emotional responses of ten year old boys. I'm surprised she isn't still punching you and hiding your things. She would never say anything unless she was totally sure you felt the same way. 'Sides, you said yourself you didn't realize you loved her till last night anyway."

"Well, I realized it because of how sweet she was being..."

"Exactly. That is her letting you know how she feels. How did this morning go?"

Buffy sighed and laid down again. "Amazing. We cuddled and made out until she had to go help Giles lead the slayers in a training session. And then I came in here right after she left. Hence the hair disaster."

Willow chuckled, "I wondered about that. But the cuddling is huge, Buff. I mean, Faith wanting to cuddle and kiss your nose...that's girlfriend stuff. She is giving you a huge signal, but you are gonna have to go the rest of the way. " Willow patted Buffy on the arm, "you're gonna have to tell her or its going to make you crazy. And you and Faith being crazy has historically not been a great thing."

Buffy sat up and pursed her lips in thought. "So I should just tell her I'm in love with her and I want to be with her forever and I think we should get married?"

Willow giggled. "I'd ease into that last one."

Buffy smiled. "You really think she loves me though?"

Willow smiled and nodded, "I do. Just tell her tonight after she stays with you again."

"What if she doesn't stay with me again?" Buffy frowned at the thought.

"She will."

()()()()()()()()()()

"Mmm, that was amazing B," Faith whispered huskily to the nude blonde stretched out beside her.

Buffy smiled, but tensed a bit as she waited for Faith's next move. _Please stay in bed. Please stay in bed. Please stay_

"...You're amazing," Faith quickly added as she moved toward Buffy, wrapping her arms around the smaller girl. Buffy smiled even wider as she felt Faith tighten her hug, making sure Buffy was staying right where she was. Faith pressed a soft kiss in between Buffy's breasts before laying her head down on her chest.

"You're pretty amazing yourself, Fai" Buffy smiled softly as she snaked her own arms around Faith, keeping their bodies pressed snugly together.

Faith was silent for a little while as she just listened to Buffy's heartbeat. "...B?" she asked quietly after a bit.

"Yeah, Faith?" Buffy asked in the same gentle voice, unconsciously tightening her arms.

"You're okay with me sleeping in here, right? I mean...if you'd rather I..." Faith stopped nervously. Buffy picked up on a note of quiet fear in Faith's voice that made her heart ache. Buffy decided that Faith was never going to be unsure of her feelings ever again.

"Relax Fai," Buffy reassured her, "I want you right where you are. I...I want you here with me..." Faith looked up from her position on Buffy's chest and smiled warmly into her eyes. Buffy smiled back, feeling the love she saw in Faith's deep brown eyes wrap around her whole body. Faith slid upwards and met Buffy's waiting mouth, capturing the blonde's top lip between her own.

After kissing her, Buffy pulled back just an inch so that she could still feel Faith's breath dancing across her lips. Then the words came pouring out, Buffy unable to stop them: "Faith, I...I love you. And I'm not saying it just so you'll say it back or to freak you out or anything, I just want you to know, okay? I love you. So whatever you want, even if its just us having mindblowing sex every night, I just want to be with you. Because I love you so much that it scares me..."

Faith's face lit up in the brightest, most beautiful smile Buffy had ever seen. After kissing her again, Faith replied softly. "I love you too, B. And I know I've done some awful things in the past, but I promise you that I'll never hurt you again-"

"Shh," Buffy said, putting a finger against Faith's lips, "I know, Faith. I trust you more than anyone."

Faith kissed Buffy's finger and smiled. "You mean everything to me, Buffy. So, yeah, I want it all with you...I'm in love with you."

Buffy wiped back a tear that was threatening to fall and pulled Faith even closer, kissing her deeply.. When their lips separated, Faith rested her head on Buffy's shoulder, her breath tickling Buffy's neck. "Goodnight, B" Faith whispered, squeezing her arms even tighter around Buffy.

"Goodnight, Faith" Buffy said, kissing the top of Faith's head.

Fin


End file.
